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She threw him a bored look and turned to the other detective to answer. “They’re a competitor of VRL. I believe my aunt knew the president.”
“Used to be a competitor. Closed up shop. No forwarding address.” Harmon said with a scowl.
Marisa didn’t have to fake her surprise and Detective Harmon frowned as another lead seemed to be going cold.
“Any idea why this tool Ulysses would want to kidnap little ol’ Stanley here?” Morris asked Marisa.
The detective was getting under Stanley’s skin. He scowled at Morris. “Why don’t you go ask him?”
“We tried. His office was cleaned out, right down to the cement floors and even those were scrubbed and polished. Anything you’d like to tell us about that,” Morris growled at Stanley in return.
Stanley just shook his head in confusion at the man. “What the hell would I know?”
“I’m not buying this bullshit about the floor just falling in so you could miraculously escape! I wanna know what really happened in that basement! What secrets are you hiding in that big brain of yours?” Morris yelled getting right up in Stanley’s face.
Heart pounding and blood roaring in his ears as he flashed back to Leaharin’s rape, Stanley froze as he felt himself touching his ring with teeth bared in a snarl. He saw Marisa’s wide frightened eyes and slowly pulled his hands apart as he allowed his face to relax. He glanced towards Detective Harmon who was watching him closely with confusion in his eyes and tension evident in his stance.
Taking slow, deep breaths Stanley turned from Detective Morris and sat on the sofa.
“I think it’s time you both left. If you have any more questions please contact my lawyer, Walter Zhou. Good evening, gentlemen,” Stanley said stiffly as tremors ran through his muscles.
Morris looked like he wanted to continue but Harmon touched the back of his arm to move him towards the door.
Marisa locked up behind them then rushed back to Stanley’s side.
“Oh my god Stanley! I thought you were going to kill him!” she said quietly. She pulled him into a hug and they rocked together on the sofa while he struggled to get his equilibrium back.
As they walked out the front door of the building Detective Morris rolled his stiff neck muscles. He had a lot of unspent adrenaline. He would have liked to beat the little punk down then taken his assistant’s sweet ass for a ride… if Harmon hadn’t been there. He snorted in frustration and looked at the other man to catch a strange expression on his face.
“What?”
“Why do you have to play the bad cop so well?” Harmon sighed.
“Who says I was playin’?” Morris grinned. He liked to pull the man’s chain and dance on the edge of danger. He barked a laugh as he headed for the car and missed Harmon’s grimace and glance back at the building.
Detective Harmon knew Stanley Garin was a small man. He wasn’t a big bruiser like Morris. But he couldn’t shake the impression he’d been a split second away from seeing his partner’s death.
“It was a fascinating read.”
The two representatives of the Fae council glared at Walter across the expansive surface of the oak desk in the lawyer’s study. Upon its surface lay the leather-bound journal once owned by Leaharin. Next to it was the tablet PC.
“Are we to believe you have reviewed the encrypted contents of a private journal of the Queen’s Inquisitor?” the Fae who’d introduced himself as Ikehorn said quietly.
“This act alone has sealed your fate,” the other Fae, Kelshard, growled.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.
“Oh please. The encryption was child’s play to one such as myself. As for my fate, I haven’t invested in a life this long to take needless risks now. No, we have too much to gain by our mutual cooperation to consider my little trespass to be of any concern to either of us,” Walter chuckled.
“What could one such as yourself have to offer the Fae?” Ikehorn said in disdain to the old man across the desk.
Walter smiled. “A means to extinguish the pestilence of Humanity once and for all.”
The Fae’s expressions froze.
“I thought that might catch your attention. Leaharin was very troubled by the damage Humans are causing the world and the effects this is having on our link to the realm of magic, the source of our power. The plans he outlined in his journal have potential but lack a decisiveness that would guarantee their elimination. They breed like vermin. It is necessary to expunge them all in one act.”
“There are billions of them. How could that many be… expunged as you say without damaging the very environment we must preserve?” Ikehorn asked.
“That’s where our cooperation comes in,” Walter smiled wickedly. “For decades, the Fae have been maintaining and priming a spell which currently encompasses the planet. In itself it has great range but there is no payload. It achieves nothing. I can supply the payload that will act decisively to eliminate all Humans within the focal area of this spell. Every Human on the planet. Gone.”
Ikehorn was disturbed that the Dragon was even aware of the spell but his partner leaned forward in interest. “We’re listening,” Kelshard smiled.
“That’s good but I’m done talking to lowly underlings such as yourself. For the rest, I’ll only speak to the Queen.” Walter leaned back with a satisfied smile.
The Fae’s expressions immediately went back to scowls.
“The Queen does not entertain idle boasts. What proof do we have of this payload?” Ikehorn sneered.
“Let’s just say the Queen’s current object of desire is integral to the payload’s delivery,” Walter offered.
“The Satyr?” Kelshard blurted.
Walter nodded slowly.
The Fae shared a troubled glance then Ikehorn pulled out his cell. Glancing at the old man across from him he dialed and waited. He murmured into the phone when it connected and moments later he placed it face up on the desk.
A circular disc of light formed above the cell roughly three feet in diameter. When the light focused Walter was facing Queen Mab.
“Greetings your Majesty. I am Walter Zhou,” he said in introduction.
The Queen did not look happy. She was not used to being denied and did not like it. Being unable to get possession of the Satyr had put her into a terrible mood. Before her was one of the people obstructing her. “Why am I speaking to the legal representative who is denying me what is rightfully mine before the scheduled meeting?” she said sharply. Ikehorn and Kelshard twitched.
“I asked to speak with you to discuss a matter that concerns us both greatly and how our cooperating will greatly benefit us both.”
“Indeed. What matter causes us both great concern?” she asked, holding his eyes with hers.
“The extinguishing of our link to the realm of magic.” This was a title he’d read in the journal.
Now he had her attention. “You’ve read my Leaharin’s journal.” Death was hinted in her tone.
“The issue was already known to me. I have watched the state of our connection to the realm diminish for centuries. The journal’s reference was merely a confirmation from an outside source,” Walter said calmly.
She was quiet for a moment. “And this cooperation. How would it benefit us both?”
Walter smiled. “By eliminating the cause. Completely. Once… and for all.”
“The Humans. You propose a means to eliminate Humanity?” she said in an amused tone but there was no amusement in her eyes. “I have heard such suggestions before and none have proven to be more than empty boasts. No one has enough power to do such a thing. Except the Humans themselves of course. But they’d take the rest of us with them.” Her expression turned bitter.
Walter leaned forward and lost his smile as well. “You are correct. Alone, no one has the power to launch such a powerful spell but together it can be done.”
“Together?” she snorted delicately. “Since when are Dragons team players?” Mab said, raising one exquisite eyebrow in question.
“Indeed, we are solitary beings. However, like the Fae, Dragons are wielders. We too are dependent on access to the realm of magic. The boundaries between here and there are closing to protect the other side from the rot Humanity has polluted this world with. We would both benefit from eradicating the cause. Reversing the damage can only begin when the source is dealt with.”
The Queen was silent for a time as she pondered the being before her.
“What would our part be in this… plan,” she asked carefully.
“Access to the Fae’s global overlay spell,” Walter stated.
Her eyes flared for a moment when he mentioned the spell. It was one of their greatest secrets. The Dragon knew too much but she wasn’t sure if he knew its role in holding back the disease her people suffered from. She could not allow the spell to be harmed.
Walter continued as if unaware of her sudden reaction. “The Fae spell has the benefit of encompassing the globe making it the perfect vector for a payload I am uniquely qualified to create and deliver.”
“This spell cannot be altered. It will not be disabled,” she said with finality.
“Neither is required. It needs to continue exactly as it is. Undisturbed and spanning the planet. My payload would merely use its focus as a location vector to isolate its targets. The payload draws no energy from the overlay.”
“This… payload. How can you know it will work?” Mab asked.
“The means for our deliverance was introduced to me just the other day. You’ve met him too, I understand. A creature from long ago. Last of his kind.”
“The Satyr!”
“Yes. What you may not be aware of is his origin. A certain Slavic witch saved him as an infant from death during the ancient purge and raised him in present day as a Human. How she pulled him from that time to the present is still unknown. However, she used a very special method of disguising him. It worked so well, even he was unaware of his true nature.”
Fae glamor spells worked outwards so the subject remained aware of their true shape and dimensions. To be unaware of yourself was something the Fae had difficulty conceiving. Queen Mab included it seemed as she frowned at him.